This invention relates to a quick and convenient device and method for setting up and taking down canvas and other fabric canopy covers on boats, trucks, buildings, other structures and even ground surfaces. It is a form of temporary building, storage cover or tent when used in relation to ground surfaces and some other structures.
Fabric covers are one of the oldest arts of civilization for temporary coverings and dwellings. In current practice, canopies with tube supports for canvas and other fabric coverings have become quite common. Particularly for boats, they have become popular for quick set-up and removal in response to weather conditions affecting comfort and safety related to marine activities.
Most of the canopy support practices employed currently utilize a simple bolting of ends of canopy tubes and rods through their diameters to support members at either or both sides of the tubes. One of the most popular on the market uses an eye in a flat attachment to a canopy tube for bolting to a threaded member attached to a boat frame. These most popular current devices involve tedious turning in and out of bolts. There is always the likelihood of the bolts being lost, particularly in rough marine conditions when the covers are most likely to be required. Bolt ends are often sharp and injurious in present methods. Various wrenches and screwdrivers are required and may be time-consuming to find or may be lost or dropped overboard in the use-conditions for which they are intended. Nearly all use-conditions for canopies are fraught with these same problems in various manners and to various degrees. Most use-conditions are benefited by this invention in similar ways.
Some of the most commonly-used methods are so simple that they are not patented. No patented or unpatented methods have been found with the advantages and working relationship of parts utilized in this invention.